


Satellite

by The_Scarlet_Speedster



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Feels, Boys Kissing, Emotional Hurt, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), It hurts so good, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, One-Sided Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Orphan Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), SHEITH - Freeform, Shadam, Unrequited Love, adashi, fucking angst, shiro x adam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 05:39:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Scarlet_Speedster/pseuds/The_Scarlet_Speedster
Summary: Keith was a satellite caught in Shiro's orbit, helplessly drifting in the depths of emotions far too complicated to put into words.





	Satellite

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy and feel free to leave comments!

Keith hadn't wanted any of this. He wouldn’t have said that he was content with his life before Takashi Shirogane entered it, but at least he knew what to expect and what was required of him. He kept to himself, attended the school that social services mandate he attend, and did just enough to pass his classes. He had built a reputation for himself as a problematic child, a trouble maker, a behavioral issue, noncompliant, and rebellious. The adults looked down on him with contempt in their eyes, as if he alone were solely responsible for the corruption of their town, and his peers either bullied or ignored him. He preferred the later, but there were days when Keith’s already frayed self-control was pushed past it’s breaking point. He was powerless to fight the anger and pain that consumed his miserable existence and it freely poured itself out in the many fights he was entangled in. Sometimes, when he was floating along the edges of unconsciousness, the pain was a welcome reminder that he was alive if nothing else. 

But the mundane cycle of his existence was interrupted the day that Takashi Shirogane of the Galaxy Garrison stepped through the doorway of their underfunded classroom. He talked about the space exploration program as if it were something that everyone should aspire to join. Takashi asked that all the students take some stupid simulation test- one that Keith had no intention of participating in whatsoever. He didn’t care about some militant space corps that seemed like a redundant Air Force knockoff.  
While the other students clamored about their results and gathered to cheer each other on, Keith had distanced himself and kept close to the edges of the crowd. He was a shadow. Something that was always present but not given a second thought. Yet the young officer had singled him out as the only student to have not taken the test. For the first time since his parents had left him… he wasn’t invisible. Someone saw him.

Shiro was a light that warmed even the coldest hearts. He had a way of getting close to Keith in a way that he hadn’t thought possible. He broke down walls that Keith had spent years diligently building with simple gestures. A warm smile. A pat on the head. A congratulations for high exam scores. A warm embrace when words alone were not enough. A weekend spent out in the barren desert planes teaching Keith about hover bikes. He showed Keith what it felt like to matter to someone.

Then the stars came crashing down on the bubble of safety that had shielded his heart. One right after another. The Kerberos Mission. Shiro was dead. Dropping out of the Garrison. An unusual energy. An unidentified space ship making a crash landing. Shiro was alive. A gigantic robotic lion. A floating castle. A princess on a mission to save the galaxy. Voltron. Battling Zarkon. Losing Shiro. Finding Shiro. Kuron. Defeating Lotor. The astral plane. Shiro was dead. Bringing Shiro back to life…

And now the biggest challenge that Keith would ever have to face was looming over him with dark clouds circling ominously. It had been easy to fall in love with the person that had rescued him from the darkness. He had never directly stated his feeling for Shiro, but the paladin had always felt that his feelings were returned and reciprocated. The tender smiles that he and Shiro shared, the warm embraces, the countless nights that they spent staring out into the vast void of space from the observation deck as they exchanged ide banter. It had been so easy…

Those brief moments of unadulterated happiness vanished when the team received a transmission from Earth. It came as both a relief and a shock to see Mr. Holt and Matt’s face appear on the holo-screen in his lion’s cockpit. But the third face that appeared make Keith’s blood run cold. Tall frame. Messy brown hair. Unmistakable jawline. Rectangular glasses that framed intelligent eyes. Adam. 

The first few days back on Earth were the hardest. Everyone had questions and while the team did their best to answer them, there were those that even they did not have the answers to. To say that the Galra movements had made the Garrison uneasy was an understatement of the century. Tensions were as high as they had ever been, especially with Iverson. Breaking the news that Sendak’s army was mounting an attack on Earth didn’t exactly bode well with the public. Newscasters from across the globe flooded to the scene, desperate for whatever scrape of news the paladins or the Garrison could offer, although it was not a surprise that Iverson ordered that the paladins keep their lips sealed tight. Especially about Voltron. 

While the entire situation was stressful it offered the paladins a chance to reunite with their families after spending two years cruising through the endless void of space. Keith watched with a tight feeling in his chest as Adam dared to approach Shiro, a smile on his face as he greeted him. He wanted Shiro to offer a polite greeting and then send the man away, but he didn’t. He didn’t pull away when his ex-fiancé reached out to pull him into an embrace. One that Shiro returned.  
Keith couldn’t bare to watch the exchange. He abruptly excused himself and made his way to the training facility. He needed to distract himself and let his emotions settle. It wasn’t impossible for Shiro to want the closure that he never got, but it was the first time that Keith had felt truly envious about having to share Shiro’s attention. 

It wasn’t the last.

Adam had become more entangled in Keith’s circle as Shiro introduced him to the paladins, Coran, and the others. He seemed genuinely pleased to meet everyone and spent time with the team. Everyone found him delightful- but Keith couldn’t bring himself to get over the bitter taste in his mouth every time he forced a laugh or faked a smile.  
It was the little things that gnawed at him. The way Adam would smile whenever Shiro entered the room. The softness etched into his face when Shiro told him about an adventure the paladins had gone on. The way that their bodies seemed to gravitate towards each other in a room full of people. 

And slowly, Keith felt himself being pushed aside as Adam entered Shiro’s life once more.

He tried to console himself with the fact that while he had never actually defined what his relationship with Shiro was, it didn’t matter because it was stronger than whatever bond Shiro and Adam shared. Keith had stayed. He had never left Shiro and he never would. He and Shiro saved each other in more ways than one. 

It worked, or so Keith told himself, but deep down he felt the shift in their relationship. The strain that hadn’t been present before they had landed on Earth. The insecurities he felt needling away at him under his skin. The anxiousness that washed over him whenever he passed Adam in the hall or saw him in the meeting room. There were long pauses and ackward stretches in the conversations when he and Shiro did manage to get a moment alone. They used to be so effortless… 

He was an alien on a planet that was supposed to be his home.

He felt lost, like he was that isolated boy Shiro had rescued so long ago. Keith knew that he wasn’t the best with words, nor was he good at sharing his feelings, but Shiro had always understood what he was unable to say. He needed to talk to him. To tell other paladin that he missed him. 

Keith’s eyes were not meant to find Adam in the room that was supposed to be Shiro’s. Nor was he supposed to see their lips interlocked with one another in a tender kiss.  
Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as turned and ran away from the only person that had given him a glimmer of hope- a safety net- an anchor in a chaotic world that spiraled violently out of control.

He hadn’t wanted any of this. To have his life so intertwined with someone else’s that he couldn’t bear the emptiness, the loneliness, and the pain that welled up inside his chest when they weren’t together. There was a selfish part of him that craved Shiro’s affection despite knowing that their stars had been crossed long before they had met. He hated the rebellious part of him that vowed to do whatever it took to get Shiro back. The guilt he felt upon realizing that Shiro had never been his to begin with. The inability to just say how he felt. The constant fear of not being good enough. The need for validation. The tears. Keith just wanted to numb it all out- to stop feeling so much and feel nothing instead. 

“You promised-“ He choked out as laid there on the floor of his room, knees drawn to his chest and arms wrapped around them tightly as he sobbed. He hadn't wanted any of this. To feel abandoned again. To feel broken. To realize how naïve he had been. Misinterpreting acts of kindness for something more. Something he was so desperate for… 

“You promised you wouldn’t leave me.”


End file.
